Be careful out there: Warnings on meningitis, measles and holiday-decorating injuries

This week, health officials are warning us about measles, meningitis and the hazards of holiday decorating. So be careful out there. Here's what you need to know.

Measles still exists.

The USA has seen 175 confirmed cases, three times the usual number, so far this year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost all the cases are the result of unvaccinated people who travel abroad and then spread the infection to pockets of more unvaccinated people in their communities.

There's no widespread epidemic of college meningitis.

But apparently unrelated outbreaks at two universities on opposite coasts have officials canceling some activities and urging some students to take preventive antibiotics or a vaccine. The bacteria that cause the potentially serious illness do not spread easily. So experts say there's no need to worry about students from Princeton University or the University of California-Santa Barbara spreading the disease when they return home for winter break.

Your gene test results may not be in the mail.

23andMe, the company that makes a $99 home gene test kit, will no longer send results on health risks to consumers. The company, responding to warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, still will send out reports on ancestry while it seeks FDA approval for interpreting health data, reports the New York Times.

You probably are not pregnant.

American women are getting pregnant at the lowest rate in 12 years, according to CDC. There were 102 pregnancies for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2009. Women have better access to birth control and are deciding to have fewer children, later in life, experts tell HealthDay.

It's a bad idea to climb a ladder with a string of Christmas lights while drunk.

That's the sort of thing that led to 15,000 holiday-decorating injuries in 2012, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The most common injuries are falls and cuts and many involve drinking and ladders, NBC Newsreports.